An Owl's Nocturne
by Taxidermied Owl Finger
Summary: Even owls need sleep too. A lonely woman's journey through a world she no longer recognized. Post- Re:179.


The last thing she remembered was dangling limply from her kakuja. Smiling weakly at the masses as blood leaked from the corners of her mouth. An hour before that, she was a headless puppet of mindless destruction, merely lashing out at those who had hurt her. Just a force of nature summoned forth by a childish god to punish the sinners that disturbed his order. No more, no less.

After that, she just...disappeared. Like the trivial loose-end of a masterpiece or a character who had fallen out of favor with her creator. Somewhere down the line, it was decided her story wasn't worth finishing. Just a person whose ending god had forgotten to write. The stage was set for her to fade in the background.

There was no longer anyone for her to be mad at. The toe-faced clown of Kanou met his end in a dingy pit somewhere in the underground. Last she heard, the man with bushy brow, Kuroiwa, died as well. Though she could have sworn she saw him pass by on the streets the other day.

She supposed that no one in this world ever truly stayed dead. At least not the ones that she cared about. Her own continued survival was a testament to that fact.

Even Kaiko was killed. She witnessed that death herself as she hung from her kakuja. The glorious sight of his hideous mug being sliced into ribbons was something even her waning vision wouldn't allow her to miss.

No one left anything for her to do—as if trying to hammer in the point that she really was of no importance after all.

At one point, people assumed that she died and dug an half-assed grave for her. Naturally, when she woke up again, she punched a hole through the soil ceiling they buried her under. Her dirt sullied arm had stuck out of the earth suddenly, without warning, like a scene out of a horror movie. She was sure she must have frightened at least a couple of people that came to visit their deceased loved ones. All she needed was ominous lightning to finish setting the mood. But alas, life never tended to go her way.

When she finally unearthed herself, she found the Owl stuck next to her tombstone. It was fairly obvious that the idea belonged to the idiots from Anteiku. The same idiots were probably patting themselves over the shoulders with how brilliant they were.

 _How utterly stupid…_

She took the quinque with her anyway.

* * *

From atop the tallest skyscraper in Tokyo, the One-Eyed Owl sat on its edge, her legs dangling playfully as she took in the skylines. The setting sun had painted the sky a deep orange, the silhouette of tall oviducts stood sinisterly as distant rips in the ethereal dome.

All the while she wondered if this new world could truly be considered beautiful.

When she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, she turned around and saw Shikorae walking towards her. The lonely ghoul inched closer to her gingerly, his back hunched over, his body almost timid under her undaunting gaze, and his own eyes conveying a desire for familiarity. She understood right away that the boy wanted something to cling onto now that neither Clown nor Aogiri existed.

But even though she understood, she was in no mood to babysit.

"Get lost." She said as she waved a hand dismissively. "Come back when you learned how to talk."

She kept getting prettier. At least she had that going for her.

A few days later, she paid a visit Rushima Island out of a sentimental whim. She arrived just in time to watch an investigator search for his comrade's body. Kuki Urie, that was the name of the investigator from what she gathered from conversations. And the body he was looking for was the body of Ginshi Shirazu, the corpse of the Quinx they stole many moons ago.

His silly little endeavor was amusing enough for her to sneak around and observe from the shadows. Despite her efforts, she knew that he must have sensed her at one point. But she would only kill him if he tried to kill her. She had a bit of rage too. Rage that she had been hiding underneath her pretty exterior.

Eto had an idea of where the body could be and briefly toyed with the idea of just giving it back to save the investigator some time. But ultimately she decided against it. After all, they never left her Tatara's body to bury.

However, she was nice enough to not do anything that would impede the investigator's investigation.

Aside from constantly moving the body of his friend around, of course. It was all done out of good intentions though. She would be lonely if he stopped visiting.

Eventually, the novelty of her juvenile mischief wore off and she let him find Shirazu. Moving a corpse around was getting quite disgusting.

For a while, she lived in woods by herself and stayed far away from human society. There was no place for her there. No one to welcome her with open arms.

No one would welcome her. Certainly not the One-Eyed Black Reaper who couldn't even be bothered to spare her a drop of tear as she lied dying in Cochlea.

At night, when it came bedtime, she would snuggle with the Owl. "Daddy~~~" She would coo as she nuzzled her face against it lovingly. She would stop every time though as the sense of disgust and shame took over. Things just felt strangely empty, not to mention she was turning into a weirdo.

When nothing else could fill the growing void in her heart, she wandered off.


End file.
